Saturday, June 30, 2012

Tour de Fleece, day one, and we are going to try an experiment. Because I'll be out and about for most of this Tour, I'm going to attempt to blog it from my iPad, pictures and all!

Above is my first day of work. I'm better than half-way into four ounces of Julie Spins in a lovely blend of Merino/yak/silk. It is wonderfully saturated in deep shades of pink, aqua and blue. I have two braids of this that I will be plying together, but as it won't be traveling with me, I probably won't complete it until near the end of the Tour.

In the meantime, I will be traveling with two AbbyBatts and a couple ounces of tussah silk from Silk and Shine (I'm really looking forward to these, too).

I'll keep you updated as I can, and in the middle I have a few queued posts that may go up. Happy Tour spinning to you!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

This pattern is Devonian, and it is part of an amazing new collection called The Sock Report.

Devonian is a pair of toe-up socks that were inspired by my mother, and I have to say that they are pretty special to me because of that.

I wanted to create something to match a shawl I knit for Mom earlier in the year. And it came to me that the increases that create a lovely triangular shawl could also be used to create the gusset increases in a sock.

As you work your way from the toe of this sock, the lace starts as the gusset, and after you turn the heel it goes on to consume the entire leg. I particularly love the detail up the back of the leg where stockinette comes to a dainty point before flowing into the lace above.

While the pictures above are of Devonian knit in Malabrigo Sock, I was able to work with String Theory's Caper yarn for The Sock Report. I can't recommend this yarn highly enough. String Theory dyes a beautiful yarn and I love working with it. It is a Merino/cashmere/nylon blend and wears very well (and is as delicious on your feet when you are done as it is in your hands while you knit it). Oh, yes.. I do like MCN sock yarn!

I love all the patterns in The Sock Report, and I hope you'll have time to stop by and check it out!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Tomorrow I'm going to the Black Sheep Gathering here in Eugene. I'll get up early. I'll drive down to the fairgrounds with a friend, and I'll set up my loom to get ready for the Sheep to Shawl competition.

I'll actually be weaving on this warp.

I spun it. Everything (except the two inches of red) is naturally colored wool. There's Shetland, Romney, Merino (moorit) and others in there. I think one might be Icelandic. We don't know what half the wool is, other than "nice". It came from the estate of Llyn Payne, who was an amazing artist and a collector of many rare and fascinating fleeces.

The red is commercial merino of several different shades of red and a tiny bit of red bamboo blended into a batt. It pops wonderfully against all the neutrals around it.

I love the draft at the top, but we won't be using it. I'll let you see what we decided to use.. .once it's woven, tomorrow!

This is the lovely draft that I originally planned to use tomorrow in our Sheep to Shawl. I had never woven it before, so I measured out some scraps of sock yarn I had on hand.

I really enjoyed weaving it, but after much review we decide that this draft doesn't show itself very well for judging. It is really hard to eyeball the fact that it is evenly beat (and I do beat it evenly and carefully and keep a 45-degree angle on hand to make sure I don't get off and measure every inch or so).

We'll be doing something different tomorrow, and I can't wait to post pictures when it's done.